Friday, 31 July 2015

July is over. I'll say it again. July is over. I'm not panicking, you are... Anyways, July hasn't been an overly exciting month for me besides turning 24 even though that wasn't exciting at all. 24 years old... is gonna take some time getting used to. But then again I still say I'm 20 (unconsciously of course) when people ask *shrugs*.

For a few months now I've been including more stuff than only books on my wrap-ups. However, I'm doing this on a rush (I'm not proud to say it though) and I will talk about the books I've read this month, which is more than enough really because I've read 14 books. How I managed to do so is still a mystery to me but taking part in the #24in48 readathon might have something to do with it since I managed to read 5 books and a half in 2 days (most of them were very short)

Friday, 24 July 2015

It wouldn't come as a surprise if I tell you all one of the (many) reasons I wanted to go back to London was to buy books. As simple as that. Although I didn't have much time to really explore the city besides the mandatory monuments/museums and what have you, I convinced my sister and her friend to let me spent one afternoon visiting some bookshops. And so the dreadful task of selecting which bookshops I was going to go into began. I narrowed my list to three: Persephone Books, Folio Society & Foyles. Lucky for us, all three were near we were staying at, sort of. Both Persephone Books and Folio Society are close to each other and they are also a 10-15 minute walk from Russell Square. Foyles is at Charing Cross Road which is also near Trafalgar Square. Win-win situation for us and our feet, or so we thought. We visited all three bookstores during our second day and we ended up being quite tired at the end of the day, especially since we had a few problems finding Persephone Books.

Sunday, 19 July 2015

Welcome to my last post about my trip to London (noooooooooooooooooo.....) but you know, "good things, when short, are twice as good". Since the fifth day was all about travelling back to Spain I decided to join both days together. The only memorable thing about the fifth day though was seeing Katie McGrath - who played Morgana in the BBC Merlin series - walking her dog down the street when I was waiting for the bus. I didn't ask for a picture because a) she was walking her dog; b) my face wasn't at its finest - that's what a good old cold would do to you and c) I am too shy, sometimes too much for my own good. She was inches away from me. And she is gorgeous indeed.

Anyway, let's rewind and go back to day four. Our last official day and we spent it shopping. What a surprise! Still, we had a last touristy thing to do: visit Buckingham Palace. I visited it on my first trip ever 8 years ago but it was the first time for my sister's friend and so we had to go. Stunning as always. The Buckingham Palace is one of those places you can't stop looking at and at the same time, is a place you wanna leave soon; it's so incredibly crowded, it's unbearable to be there for a long time.

Sunday, 12 July 2015

Welcome to the third day of our London adventure! We woke up rather early to try and be as productive as the other days but little did I know my cold was about to get much worse. Anyways, feeling like utter shit (there is no softer way to put it) we left the hotel and caught a bus towards Trafalgar Square. Once there, we had to catch yet another bus to get us to St. Paul's Cathedral. Thank goodness for buses, otherwise our poor feet wouldn't have lasted through the day.

While on the bus, we could see St. Paul's Cathedral and oh my, WHAT A SIGHT! It's stunning and it's just right there, in the middle of several streets, like: "hey! look at me! I'm gorgeous!" No, seriously guys, it's a stunner! We couldn't go in, I believe they were doing some ceremony *sad face* but it's on the list for the next visit ;)

As I said, A BEAUTY! After walking around the Cathedral, we headed towards Millennium Brigde (which you can see in one of the Harry Potter movies!!! I believe the 6th one) in order to get to The Globe and I was already dying within because, you know, SHAKESPEARE!!! Funny thing, when we were approaching the theatre there were some children, with their teachers, dressed as Shakespearean characters. It was so cute!

Wednesday, 8 July 2015

And I'm back with day 2 of my London trip. As I told you on Day 1, we decided to go to King's Cross because you can't really be a Harry Potter fan and skip THAT (we also wished to go to the Harry Potter Studios but since my other sister couldn't make it to the trip we dropped the idea. We want to go together). Also, before getting down to business, you need to know I caught a cold. Not the greatest timing I know, but what can you really do? I woke up feeling a bit ill - both my throat and nose hurt and although, I initially thought it was due to hay-fever, it wasn't really. Air-con was the problem. It wasn't that hot in London, like 24ºC, but I guess it was for them and my body didn't take the temperature changes very well, I'm afraid. Anyways, we got up rather early, like 7:30am or so, just for the single purpose of enjoying a more relaxed day - we didn't want to experience again the exhaustion of the day before. But first things first: breakfast time! And since there was a Nero Café near the hotel, we went there. We don't have it in Spain and everybody raves about it. We gave it a try and it was delicious.

After that, we headed to St. Pancras and King's Cross. We thought it was gonna take us a whole lot more to get there but it was really a 15-minute walk from the hotel, which was perfect. Why? Because it meant more time could be spent in case the queue to get the Platform 9 3/4 picture was too long, which wasn't... so day made LOL.

Friday, 3 July 2015

2015 has been the year in which I've come back to London after 8 years. 8 YEARS! The last time I was there I was 15 (about to turn 16). Mental, I know. My sisters and I have been planning to go back for a long time and we finally decided 2015 was the year. Unfortunately one of my sisters couldn't come due to work but it's okay; we will be back to visit the Harry Potter Studios - we want to go the three of us together like the big HP nerds we are ^^. One of my little sister's friends came along as well. In this first post, I'm gonna tell you all what we did the first day which may seem like not a lot but believe me, we were exhausted at the end of the day.

The 16th we woke up at 4 am (never again, I swear) to go to the airport. Our flight was due at 7 am. You guys need to know I'm a bit scared of flying and I always get quite panicky during both the takeoff and the landing. My mind decides to go crazy picturing catastrophic scenarios... you know, the usual stuff. Anyways, we arrived safe and sound at Gatwick airport and then we got a bus that took us to Earl's Court. From there we were "alone" and let me tell you... finding the underground to get us to Russell Square and then the hostel was not an easy task. Fortunately British people are lovely and thanks to them we found the hostel. It was 12 pm by then and our check-in was due to 2 pm. A bit of waiting, we did. After getting our bedroom it was finally time to explore the city.